Social Networking Watch

SNS Reach A Higher Percentage Of Women Than Men Worldwide

PRESS RELEASE - July 28 - comScore released a global report on women’s online usage titled, Women on the Web: How Women are Shaping the Internet, which provides an in-depth analysis of the female Internet user, highlighting key trends by Internet activity, worldwide region and digital channel. The report found that social networks reach a higher percentage of women than men globally, with 75.8% of all women online visiting a social network in May 2010 versus 69.7% of men. Women spend 30% more time on SNS than men. FULL ARTICLE @ COMSCORE

50% Of Employees Ignore Company Policy On Social Networking

VISAGEMOBILE - July 27 - According to Cisco’s 2010 mid-year security report ~ 50% of end-users ignore company policy on social media access and 27% said they knowingly alter settings on their corporate devices to access restricted apps. FULL ARTICLE @ VISAGEMOBILE

Mobile App Store Downloads To Hit 25 Billion By 2015

TECH CRUNCH - Jul 20 - According to a Juniper Research report out today, the number of “consumer-oriented handset downloads” is expected to rise from less than 2.6 billion per-year in 2009 to more than 25 billion in 2015. The trend, notes the report, is being driven by industry players who are seeking to emulate Apple’s success with the App Store by launching their own branded storefronts, such as ‘Mobile Market’ from China Unicom, ‘Airtel App Central’ from Bharti and the ‘Apps & Games Shop’ on Vodafone 360. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

Social Media Sites As Annoying To U.S. Customers As Cable Providers

TECH CRUNCH - July 19 - A new study by ForeSee Results and the American Customer Satisfaction Index finds that U.S. consumers regard social media sites Facebook and Myspace as lowly as they regard cable providers, airlines and the I.R.S. On a 0-100 point scale, Facebook scored 64 points but Wikipedia scored 77. YouTube scored 73, and MySpace scored 63. By way of comparison, Netflix ranks at 87. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

Gay And Lesbian Adults Are More Avid Blog Readers, SNS Users

TECH CRUNCH - July 13 - A new national survey carried out by market research firm Harris Interactive suggests gay and lesbian adults online today are among the most loyal and most frequent blog readers and social network users in the United States. More than half (54%) of gay men and lesbian respondents report reading some type of blog, compared to only 40% of heterosexuals. This represents an increase from March 2008, when 51% of gay and lesbian respondents reported reading some type of blog. 73% of gay and lesbian adults can be found on Facebook, compared to 65% of heterosexual adults. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

Loopt Hits 4 Million Users

TECH CRUNCH - July 9 - While Foursquare is just shy of 2M users, other services like MyTown have quickly surpassed that number. Same with Google Latitude, which is at 3M. And you can put Loopt on that list as well, as today they’ve hit 4M total users. Loopt was one of the first location-based services to get a lot of hype. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

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The First Thing Young Women Do In The Morning: Check Facebook

MASHABLE - July 7 - Young women are becoming more and more dependent on social media and checking on their social networks, according to a new study released by Oxygen Media and Lightspeed Research. One-third of women aged 18-34 check Facebook when they first wake up, even before they get to the bathroom. 21% of women age 18-34 check Facebook in the middle of the night. FULL ARTICLE @ MASHABLE

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Facebook Losing Appeal With Teens

MONTREAL GAZETTE - July 5 - Facebook is still the giant of social networking, but a significant slice of teenagers report "Facebook fatigue" that's driving them away from the site as their friends move on or their parents encroach. That's according to a new survey that finds 19% of teens has either abandoned the site or visits it less than they did a year ago. The exodus looks to be a recent trend, with 68% of teens who have shifted away saying that's happened in the last six months. Losing interest or finding Facebook "boring" was the reason for 45% while being more interested in other websites drove 28% away. Friends not using Facebook anymore was a factor for 21%. 16% of Facebook exiles said they drifted away because their parents joined. FULL ARTICLE @ MONTREAL GAZETTE

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Social Media Up 230% Since 2007

INFORMATION WEEK - June 28 - Two-thirds of Americans now use Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and other social media sites, up about 230% from the 20% penetration in 2007, and 43% are visiting these sites more than once a day. Multiple visits are up 28% compared with last year, the Simmons New Media study determined. "The rise of social networking tracks closely with that of Facebook. As of April 26, 2010, 46% of the U.S. online adult population reported having visited Facebook in the past 30 days". FULL ARTICLE @ INFORMATION WEEK

Teens Engage In Risky Online Behavior

INFORMATION WEEK - Jun 22 - That's the finding of a survey of 955 people aged 13 to 17 commissioned by security company McAfee and conducted by Harris Interactive last month. The survey asked teens to report on how they use the Internet, what they read and download, as well as their behavior online. 69% of teenagers have included their physical location in a social networking status update, nearly one-third chat online with people they don't know in the offline world, and nearly half share their real first name with strangers. In addition, 24% have shared their e-mail address with strangers, 18% a photograph of themselves, and 12% their cell phone number. The study also found that girls are more likely to chat with people they don't know -- 32% of girls, versus 24% of boys. Younger girls are more likely than boys to share a description of their physical appearance. At the same time, girls were also more likely to report that they had been harassed or bullied online than boys. FULL ARTICLE @ INFORMATION WEEK

U.S. 2010 Market For Mobile Virtual Goods To Be Estimated At $168M

PRESS RELEASE - Jun 22 - Virtual goods purchased on smartphones are a new emerging market in the United States. According to a study "Magid Media Futures 2010 Wireless and Consumers", Americans spent $168M on mobile virtual goods in the last year. Magid estimates that over 70M Americans now own smartphones – that’s 23% of the population. With 45% of those smartphone owners playing mobile games and 16% of those spending an average of $41 per year on in-game virtual goods, the market has already exceeded $168M.

Online Content Management: Does An Age Divide Exist?

PR WEB - June 16 - The younger half of the millennial generation has been accused of putting too much information about themselves on the Internet. However a new research from the Pew Research Internet and American Life Project suggests that part of this age group (18-29) is savvier with regulating their online content than their elders. 44% of young adult Internet users limit their personal information online, while only 33% of users ages 30-39 claimed they did the same. The numbers lessen as the ages of users increase. In the same study, 71% of 18-29 year-old social networking users have changed their privacy settings, almost 20% more than those surveyed aged 50-64. The youngest age group also beat out the other age brackets in other categories such as deleting unwanted comments and removing names from photos. FULL ARTICLE @ PR WEB

30 Billion Videos Watched Online In April

RESEARCH BRIEF - June 11 - According to a recent comScore Video Metrix service, 178M U.S. Internet users watched online video during the month, and topped 30.3 billion videos in April, with Google Sites ranking as the top video property with 13.1 billion videos, representing 43.2% of all videos viewed online. YouTube accounted for the vast majority of videos viewed at the property. Hulu ranked second with 958M videos, followed by Microsoft Sites, Viacom Digital, and Yahoo! Sites. FULL ARTICLE @ CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Mobile Apps To Hit $32 Billion In Five Years

READ WRITE WEB - June 10 - Juniper Research asserts, in a study published today, that revenue from mobile applications will grow $22 billion in the next five years. Apple, the most high-profile purveyor of mobile apps, has said it has seen 4 billion apps downloaded from its store, for a total of about $1.5 billion. For Juniper's estimates to bear out, other providers will have to come pretty strongly to the fore. This is especially true if the company's estimate that 85% of apps downloaded are free. FULL ARTICLE @ READ WRITE WEB

Social Networks Overtake Search Engines In UK

TECH CRUNCH - June 8  - Google should be considerably worried about its future battle with the likes of Facebook and Twitter, as online marketing spend will surely follow Internet foot-through. According to Hitwise, during May, social networks accounted for 11.88% of UK Internet visits and search engines accounted for 11.33%, representing the first ever month that social networks have been more popular than search engines in the UK. Facebook now accounts for 55% of all UK social networking visits. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

comScore Releases April 2010 U.S. Online Video Rankings

PRESS RELEASE - June 1 - April 2010 data from the comScore Video Metrix service showing that 178M U.S. Internet users watched online video during the month. Recently launched in December 2009, Vevo attracted 43.6M viewers in April, representing a quarter of the U.S. online video audience. U.S. Internet users watched 30.3 billion videos, with Google Sites ranking as the top video property with 13.1 billion videos, representing 43.2% of all videos viewed online. YouTube accounted for the vast majority of videos viewed at the property. Hulu ranked second with 958M videos, or 3.2% of all online videos viewed. Microsoft Sites ranked third with 644M (2.1%), followed by Viacom Digital and Yahoo! Sites. FULL ARTICLE @ COMSCORE

Mobile-gaming Revenue To Hit $11.4 Billion In 2014

CNET NEWS - May 26 - Research firm Gartner predicted that worldwide mobile-game revenue will grow 19%, reaching $5.6 billion in 2010 with an expectation to more than double to $11.4 billion in 2014. Gartner estimates that 70-80 % of all mobile consumer apps downloaded are mobile games and that 60-70 % of these downloaded games are free (often trial versions.) The firm expects this trend to continue for the next two to three years. FULL ARTICLE @ CNET NEWS

Brits Spend Most Time On Social Networks

MARKETING WEEK - May 19 - Internet users spent 65% more time online in April 2010 (884M hours) than they did in April 2007 (536M hours). One in every four and a half UK minutes online is accounted for by social networks & blogs, with the sector having grown to account for almost 23% of UK internet time (176M hours). FULL ARTICLE @ MARKETING WEEK